Photo: Bruce Baker / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Fantastic Negrito is one of those artists I respect for refusing to stay in a single lane. Born Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz in 1968, he blends blues, R&B, and roots music into something that feels both classic and restless. What really impresses me is the hardware: he won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album twice, first for The Last Days of Oakland and again for Please Don't Be Dead. Doing that as a reinvented, midlife act rather than an overnight phenomenon says a lot about persistence. His catalog, including Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?, reads like an artist who keeps pushing rather than coasting on a formula.
Overview
Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz (born January 20, 1968), better known by his stage name Fantastic Negrito, is an American singer-songwriter whose music spans blues, R&B, and roots music. His 2016 album The Last Days of Oakland won a Grammy award for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 59th Grammy Awards. In 2019, his album Please Don't Be Dead won the same category for the 61st Grammy Awards.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Fantastic Negrito
- Name (Japanese)
- ファンタスティック・ネグリート
- Reading
- ふぁんたすてぃっく・ねぐりーと
- Born
- January 20, 1968 (age 58)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aquarius / Monkey
- Origin
- Massachusetts, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- singer-songwriter / singer / composer / pianist / guitarist
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 2021 Libera Awards
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | The Last Days of Oakland | — | |
| Notable work | Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? | — | |
| Notable work | Please Don't Be Dead | — |
6. Links
- Official sitehttps://fantasticnegrito.com/
- Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/fantasticnegrito/
- Xhttps://x.com/musicnegrito
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BF%E3%82%B9%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%83%BB%E3%83%8D%E3%82%B0%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88
Singer-songwriter — see all → · Singer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.